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IELTS READING TASKS (ACADEMIC) IELTS Dwarka

IELTS READING TASKS (IELTS Dwarka)

IELTS SAMPLE READING TASK 1

WHAT A WASTE!

Every day, all over the world, unwanted waste is disposed of from both domestic and commercial sources, usually with insufficient attention paid to the resulting problems. The increase in excess refuse and how to dispense with it has become a major headache for the government and the environmental agencies.

This has certainly been the case in Britain where there has been a steady rise in the amount of rubbish generated in recent years. In industry, the mining, agriculture and construction sectors are the biggest culprits, being amongst the greatest producers of waste. Also, household waste has grown at a rate of 3% a year as a consequence of society becoming more affluent and thus consuming more goods, resulting in more rubbish to discard. As this waste is economically and environmentally costly to deal with, local authorities have been required to ensure that the arrangements made to dispose of the surplus detritus are efficient and practicable, considering social as well as economic implications.

For many years, the preferred option for refuse disposal in Britain has been the landfill. In fact, the UK, more than any other European country, makes use of landfills to get rid of its biodegradable waste. However, problems have arisen with this method and alternative solutions have had to be researched IELTS coaching in dwarka .

One of the biggest drawbacks to landfills is the cost. In the past this was not the case as land was plentiful and cheap with abandoned quarries and mines often being utilised. But by 2015, since space for approved and licensed landfills will have run out, viable alternatives to waste disposal have to be found. Another disadvantage is the environmental impact made by the acids and hazardous chemicals that are leaked from the landfills. Older sites depended on these substances being diluted naturally by rain but this often did not occur and surrounding agricultural land was affected and livestock poisoned. Nowadays, more modern landfills use liners within the pits to contain any dangerous material and the liquid is then collected, treated and discharged within the site itself. But perhaps the most apparent annoyance for the general public living in the immediate vicinity of the landfill is the nuisance that results from the traffic, the noise, the dust and the unpleasant odours emanating from the site. Although no risks to human health have been verified, symptoms such as headaches, drowsiness and exhaustion have been reported by people living close to landfills. These may have been caused by toxic emissions from the site but they may be connected to the impact that living next to the sites can have on stress and anxiety.

In order to reduce the amount of waste being sent to the landfill, a special tax was introduced in 1996, to discourage this practice. The charges range from two to eleven pounds per tonne depending on the type of rubbish being discarded and due to this tax the amount of waste from the construction industry has been markedly reduced. Other targets have been set to reduce biodegradable waste deposited in these sites by 2006 but it is thought that the greatest impact could be made through the introduction of more intensive recycling, which could be funded from the proceeds of the landfill tax.

In Europe, Britain is bottom of the recycling table with the lowest rate of 8% compared to the Netherlands where they recycle 72% of their detritus. According to government research, only 7% of plastic was salvaged, as was only 22% of the six billion glass containers manufactured annually in Britain. On the other hand, the same sources found that 90% of car batteries and 66% of lead is recycled. This proportion is high because of the economic value of the material and so reprocessing is an opportunity to gain an income from an environmentally friendly undertaking. Also, of the thirteen billion steel cans produced yearly, about a quarter come from recycled metal. These goods only consume 25% of the energy needed to make the same products from raw materials.

Biodegradable wastes can be made into organic compost to use as fertiliser for the land. At present less than half the local authorities have facilities for this and about a fifth of municipal waste is being treated but in some areas, schemes are being set up to collect waste from both domestic properties and supermarkets to help effect this procedure.

Yet even now in the 21st century, less progressive authorities are still constructing and employing incinerators to dispose of waste despite the subsequent health hazards. They also have to confront opposition from the public over a policy which has proved to be the most unpopular technology since the introduction of nuclear power.

So, what can be done to encourage more recycling? Probably what should be the government’s priority is the reduction in the number of landfills in regular use. Even materials that are biodegradable such as paper cannot easily be broken down as the landfill pits are constructed to keep air out and moisture in, thus slowing down the process to degrade this matter. Therefore, more reprocessing plants for refuse must be constructed to replace the outmoded landfills. Also, companies should be encouraged to take a more responsible approach to the packaging of their products, only using the minimum and environmentally friendly recycled materials. Then, the public must be convinced of the benefits of recycling and be made aware of the ecological consequences of not recycling. In Britain, more intensive reprocessing would lower the production of gases harmful to the ozone layer by 12.8 million tonnes of carbon a year, the equivalent of taking nearly five million cars off the road. Also, IELTS Classes in Dwarka strong incentive for the public to support recycling is the prospect of higher employment. In Germany, it has been estimated that 150,000 people are employed in the recycling business, a number greater than those employed in the steel industry. It is believed that up to 50,000 jobs could be created in Britain if recycling was adopted.

What will happen in the future regarding the disposal of waste matter very much depends on the attitude and party policies of the particular government in power. Yet, if reforms to the methods of waste disposal are not made, serious environmental problems will arise in the immediate future, the consequences of which are too dire to contemplate.

Questions 1-4

Choose ONE phrase from the list of phrases A – I below to complete each of the following sentences.

Write the appropriate letters in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet

List of Phrases

A there is a lot of mining in Britain

B dangerous materials are collected in landfills

C as the population becomes wealthier, their capacity to consume more increases

D there is relatively little recycling of degradable matter in Britain

E landfills poison animals

F a lot of waste from food shops is made into fertilisers

G problems for people residing nearby

H using incinerators is the most popular method of rubbish disposal

I the most common means of waste disposal is burying refuse

1) More household waste is produced because…

2) In Britain…

3) Landfills create…

4) Unlike Europe…

Questions 5 and 6

Choose the best answer A, B, C or D.

5)

Landfills are not approved of because

A they use agricultural land.

B they have always been expensive to run.

C they need to have a licence.

D they produce dangerous emissions.

6)

A tax was imposed in order

A to encourage recycling.

B to dissuade people from using landfills.

C to punish the building industry.

D to gather money for the government.

Questions 7-14

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 7-14 on your answer sheet.

Solutions to the problem of how to dispose of excess rubbish must be found. With the dramatic increase in both 7 …………. and industrial rubbish, the 8 …………. must devise new policies to deal with the matter. The well established 9 …………. are now considered 10 …………. so it is preferable to send the refuse to 11 …………. works in order to 12 …………. the waste products which could then be used to manufacture 13 …………. goods. Also the general public must be better informed of the worrying environmental 14 …………. the planet faces if this matter is not addressed urgently.

IELTS SAMPLE READING TASK-2 IELTS Dwarka

High-tech crime-fighting tools

A
Crime-fighting technology is getting more sophisticated and rightly so. The police need to be equipped for the 21st century. In Britain we’ve already got the world’s biggest DNA database. By next year the state will have access to the genetic data of 4.25m people: one British-based person in 14. Hundreds of thousands of those on the database will never have been charged with a crime.

B
Britain is also reported to have more than £4 million CCTV (closed circuit television) cameras. There is a continuing debate about the effectiveness of CCTV. Some evidence suggests that it is helpful in reducing shoplifting and car crime. It has also been used to successfully identify terrorists and murderers. However, many claim that better lighting is just as effective to prevent crime and that cameras could displace crime. An internal police report said that only one crime was solved for every 1,000 cameras in London in 2007. In short, there is conflicting evidence about the effectiveness of cameras, so it is likely that the debate will continue.

C
Professor Mike Press, who has spent the past decade studying how design can contribute to crime reduction, said that, in order for CCTV to have any effect, it must be used in a targeted way. For example, a scheme in Manchester records every licence plate at the entrance of a shopping complex and alerts police when one is found to belong to an untaxed or stolen car. This is an effective example of monitoring, he said. Most schemes that simply record city centres continually — often not being watched – do not produce results. CCTV can also have the opposite effect of that intended, by giving citizens a false sense of security and encouraging them to be careless with property and personal safety. Professor Press said: All the evidence suggests that CCTV alone makes no positive ieltsdwarka impact on crime reduction and prevention at all The weight of evidence would suggest the investment is more or less a waste of money unless you have lots of other things in place.’ He believes that much of the increase is driven by the marketing efforts of security companies who promote the crime-reducing benefits of their products. He described it as a lazy approach to crime prevention’ and said that authorities should instead be focusing on how to alter the environment to reduce crime.

D
But in reality, this is not what is happening. Instead, police are considering using more technology. Police forces have recently begun experimenting with cameras in their helmets. The footage will be stored on police computers, best ielts coaching in dwarka
along with the footage from thousands of CCTV cameras and millions of pictures from numberplate recognition cameras used increasingly to check up on motorists.

E
And now another type of technology is being introduced. It’s called the Microdrone and it’s a toy-sized remote-control craft that hovers above streets or crowds to film what’s going on beneath. The Microdrone has already been used to monitor rock festivals, but its supplier has also been in discussions to supply it to the Metropolitan Police, and Soca, the Serious Organised Crime Agency. The drones are small enough to be unnoticed by people on the ground when they are flying at 350ft. They contain high-resolution video surveillance equipment and an infrared night vision capability, so even in darkness they give their operators a bird’s-eye view of locations while remaining virtually undetectable Best IELTS Coaching Dwarka .

F
The worrying thing is, who will get access to this technology? Merseyside police are already employing two of the devices as part of a pilot scheme to watch football crowds and city parks looking for antisocial behaviour. It is not just about crime detection: West Midlands fire brigade is about to lease a drone, for example, to get a better view of fire and flood scenes and aid rescue attempts; the Environment Agency is considering their use for monitoring of illegal fly tipping and oil spills. The company that makes the drone says it has no plans to license the equipment to individuals or private companies, which hopefully will prevent private security firms from getting their hands on them. But what about local authorities? In theory, this technology could be used against motorists. And where will the surveillance society end? Already there are plans to introduce smart water’ containing a unique DNA code identifier that when sprayed on a suspect will cling to their clothes and skin and allow officers to identify them later. As long as high-tech tools are being used in the fight against crime and terrorism, fine. But if it’s another weapon to be used to invade our privacy then we don’t want it.

The Reading Passage has six paragraphs A–F.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

List of Phrases

i The Spy in the sky

vi Lack of conclusive evidence

ii The spread of technology

vii Cars and cameras

iii The limitations of cameras

viii Advantages and disadvantages

iv The cost of cameras

ix A natural progression

v Robots solving serious crimes

x A feeling of safety

Questions: 1-5

Example) Paragraph A ix

1) Paragraph B

2) Paragraph C

3) Paragraph D

4) Paragraph E

5) Paragraph F

Questions 6-8

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

6)

Britain has already got

A four million CCTV cameras.

B more data about DNA than any other country.

C the most sophisticated crime-fighting technology.

D access to the genetic data of one in fourteen people living in Britain.

7)

Professor Press

A works at the University of Manchester.

B studies car-related crime.

C is concerned about the negative impact of the use of CCTV.

D feels that some marketing departments lie about the crime-reducing benefits of CCTV.

8)

The Microdrone is

A a type of toy in the shape of a plane.

B being used by the Metropolitan Police.

C being used by the government.

D able to film in the dark.

Questions 9-10

Answer the questions below with words taken from the Reading Passage.

Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

9) Give examples of 2 events where technology is used to watch crowds.

10) According to the passage, who do we not want to use the Microdrone?